Civil index to Births, Marriages and Deaths (England and Wales) 1837 – 1950 is only available at Wigan Local Studies.

Ancestry Institution

Free online access is available at the Museum of Wigan Life (and all the borough’s libraries). Please book a computer ahead of your visit.

Parish registers

Church of England registers for most of the former Wigan parish and the current metropolitan borough. Catholic Church registers mainly for the period prior to 1901, although there are some later dates. Limited non-conformist registers.

Parish registers are available online or microform (please book a reader in advance of your visit if using microform).

Directories

Cover the current metropolitan borough area, also some for Lancashire, Liverpool and Manchester.

Catholic Record Society and Harleian Society also contain some registers for areas other than Lancashire

Many books and pamphlets relating to local and family history many that have been privately researched, including some memorial inscriptions

Dootson Collection - The Dootson Collection is housed in Leigh Local Studies. The collection consists of books, pamphlets, manuscripts relating to Lancashire and in particular those relating to Leigh. A local solicitor, Thomas R Dootson actively engaged in collecting materials about his home town of Leigh and the county of Lancashire. He bequeathed the collection to the town which is in two parts; the first is the Lancashire Collection which contains around 2500 books about Lancashire as well as books by Lancashire born authors and those who have lived in the county from around the 19th and 20th century. The second part contains books of general interest such as literature, Egyptology etc. The Leigh portion contains books by Leigh authors which range from circa 1690 to the early 20th century, of interest is Adam Mort’s Diary (1693 – 1729). Some of these manuscripts are now housed at Wigan Borough Archives in Leigh Town Hall.